Star system featuresg WDS lists a companion, but this is probably in error

Known planetsg NA

Habitable zoneg In 2006, astronomer Margaret Turnbull labelled star as the top stellar system top candidate to search for extraterrestrial life forms. Because of its solar-type properties, astrobiologists have listed it among the most astrobiologically interesting stars within 10 parsecs of Sol. High probability of life, as similar to Sol. Porto de Mello lists it as one of 13 nearby astrobiologically interesting stars.

Star system featuresg Star lies near the same line of sight as the sub-giant star HD 101212, although it is presently unclear whether these two stars are gravitationally bound or even in physical proximity.

Known planetsg No sub-stellar companions have been observed in orbit around this star, and it appears to lack a dust ring as is found around some comparable stars.

Habitable zoneg Given age of star, it probably does not sport an M-class planet.

Sci-fi mentionsg In the science fiction of Larry Niven, 61 Ursae Majoris is depicted as the home system of the warlike extraterrestrials known as Kzin.g In the Star Trek universe, 61 Ursae Majoris is orbited by the class M planet Archer IV. The star is known as Loracus.g In the video gameMass Effect, 61 Ursae Majoris is the birth system for the character of Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Star typeg A: G8VIg B: M (Observations announced in 1998 suggest that sightings of this companion were actually observations of a new gargantuan class of stellar mass ejection associated recently with Sol-type stars of spectral class F8 to G8 called a "superflare" from the primary star itself .)

Distance from Earthg 28.12 ly

Star Service No.g NA

Ageg A: Probably 3.24 Gyr but may be at least 5.4 billion years old based on chromospheric anaysis alone, but its halo subdwarf status would suggest that the star is at least 10 billion years old, having formed during a period of rapid collapse that lasted perhaps a billion years in the early history of the Milky Way galaxy prior the development of the galactic disk.g B: NA

Diameter/Mass/Temp (xSol)g A: 64%; 60.5%; NAg B: NA; 15.4%; NA

Brightness (xSol)g A: 17.2169%-19% (Emits enormous magnetic outbursts produce "superflares", aka coronal mass ejections, that release between 100 and 10 million times more energy than the largest flares ever observed on the sun, making them brighten briefly by up to 20 times. These superflares last from one hour to one week and increase the normal luminosity of a star as much as one thousand times. They occur, on average, about once per century.)g B: 0.1428%

Metallicityg A: Lower than Solg B: NA

Comparison to Solg A: See chart (similar to Sun)g B: See chart (similar to Proxima)

Picture of starg A: NAg B: NA

Star system featuresg NA

Known planetsg A: Given the low abundance of elements heavier than hydrogen, the star is more likely to have gas giants in cold outer orbits than rocky planets in close orbit.g B: NA

Habitable zoneg A: Given the regular eruption of superflares, it is unlikely that Earth-type life could survive for long on any inner rocky planet (If Sol were to produce a large superflare, Earth's ozone layer would be destroyed, and ice on the daylight side of moons as far out as those of Jupiter or even Saturn would be melted, producing vast floodplains that refreeze after the flare subsides. ). The distance where an Earth-type planet would be comfortable with liquid water is only about 0.44 AU (around the orbit of Mercury).g B: NA

Location in Earth skyg In the southern part of Constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear, which also encompasses the Big Dipper, northeast of Alula Borealis (Nu Ursae Majoris) and Alula Australis (Xi or Ksi Ursae Majoris)

About Me

I'm the owner and chief editor at Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the editing and proofreading needs of writers both new and published. For more than two decades, I worked as an award-winning journalist, with half of those years spent as an editor. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres have been published, and I am the author of the nonfiction “Hikes with Tykes” series, a novel "Windmill", and a collection of poetry, "Love Letters to Sophie's Mom". For seven years I worked as an English teacher or a community college journalism instructor. I hold a master's degree in English and a bachelor's in journalism and English.